Pages

Saturday, June 3, 2017

The Heroes' Inheritance- Chapter Six

And here, my friends, is where our story takes a turn for the worse- that is, it becomes darker, and the more sinister side of things is revealed. Mark and his family are fleeing from the dragons, but they know they will have to fight eventually. Marianna has made her nephew swear to leave her behind if anything happens. Will they meet the dragons?Will they escape from their pursuers?Will they make it to Liphaeum?

Chapter Six

The Cost of Escape

The repetitive thumping sound was now directly overhead.
Marianna slowly opened the door, and Mark spotted a large winged figure flying
in the direction of the forest. “He’s coming back this way,” he muttered, and
his aunt nodded, taking his hand.

“When I say go, run,” she whispered. “I’ll be right behind
you.”

Mark started to nod, then Marianna hissed, “Now!”

Mark bolted, and was surprised to see that his aunt easily
kept up with him. In the light of the full moon, he saw the figures of Adam and
Mara racing towards them through the tall marsh grasses by the lakeshore. They
met halfway between the two houses, and Marianna hissed out an order. “Down!
Hide in the grass!”

Without question, Mark dropped to the ground, his tall form
instantly hidden by the grasses. Curled up in the fetal position, he listened
as the others did likewise.

Thump,
thump, came the sound again, and Mark
realized he was hearing the dragon’s powerful wings beating the air.

His aunt nudged his shoulder. “Up again, all of you. Run.”

They rose, and clutching his sister’s hand, Mark ran faster
than he had ever run before for the woods. He heard the thump, thump of Anduin’s wings behind them, and a deep, throaty
roar from the dragon’s throat. A rush of wind just above him- Anduin had passed
low over them.

The trees were just ahead of them now; perhaps ten yards
before them.

Eight yards- Anduin swept over their heads again, and Mara
screamed as she dodged narrowly.

Five yards. Anduin roared in fury and shot straight up into
the sky. Mark and Mara stumbled into the shelter of the trees, followed closely
by Adam and Marianna. The four of them gasped for breath. Mark remembered his
sister’s earlier cry of terror and wheeled to face her. “What… happened?” he
asked breathlessly. “Did he… hurt you?”

“Just a scratch,” she replied, cradling her shoulder. Mark
saw that the sleeve of her tunic was torn, and a thin line of blood marked the
place where Anduin’s razor-sharp claw had scraped across her skin. “It’s… not
bad,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “I’ll be fine.”

“Oh Father, I came so close to losing you,” he said quietly,
holding her close with his good arm.

“Come on,” said Marianna. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

They gradually made their way deeper into the woods, moving
as quickly as they could. Strangely, Mark could no longer hear Anduin, and he
almost wondered if the dragon was even still there. He leaned wearily against
the trunk of a nearby tree. “Why aren’t they still chasing us?” he asked no one
in particular. “Did they let us go?”

They walked slowly through the silent forest. Mark’s nerves
were on edge, and he flinched at every snap of a twig. Finally, after they had
walked for about ten minutes, they came to a small clearing. Mark sighed
heavily, fingering the string of the bow slung across his shoulders. Marianna
stopped, glancing around. “We can rest for a few minutes,” she consented, but didn’t
relax.

Mark shifted restlessly. Something seemed…wrong, somehow. He
wasn’t sure how to describe it- just a tingling at the back of his
consciousness, warning him. Then he realized what it was.

He was being watched.

Slowly, he raised his eyes, and what he saw turned his blood
to ice in his veins. There, crouched in the shadows of the forest, was a huge,
green reptilian beast. The yellow slit eyes met his own, and Mark saw them
narrow.

In that moment, his instincts kicked in. He screamed a
warning, throwing himself into Mara and Adam and slamming them both to the
ground. Seconds later he felt a burst of blistering heat above them; he opened
his eyes to see the flames leaping over their heads. A few nearby trees
ignited, but the four Farlanders were unharmed. Marianna, reacting quickly, had
dropped to the ground.

“Tamar,” Mara hissed in Mark’s ear as they slowly stood.
Mark nodded, and drew his sword.The
emerald dragon emerged from the shadows, crouched close to the ground,
watching.

Stalking.

Mark heard the ominous sound of steel on leather as Adam
drew his own blade. Mara silently pulled out one of her knives. The four of
them stood facing the dragon for a long moment.

Then Tamar charged. With a roar of fury, she sprang forward
towards them. Mark leapt out of the dragon’s path, lashing out with his blade
at the beast’s side. The sword connected and sank a few inches into the flesh
of Tamar’s left flank. Momentarily, Mark felt a surge of triumph, which quickly
faded as one of Tamar’s powerful wings slammed into his back, slamming him to
the ground. He tasted earth as his face hit the dirt, and felt a tiny prick of
pain as something sharp, maybe a stick or rock, dug into his cheek. He touched
the place and felt warm, sticky blood.

He pushed himself gingerly to a kneeling position and
grabbed his sword up from the ground. Turning, he saw a second winged figure
landing in the clearing, and he recognized Anduin. The scarlet beast turned and
saw Marianna and Adam fighting Tamar-then his eyes fell on Mark. “Farlander,”
he hissed. “The little warrior. Let us see if you are as good of a fighter as
your father.” He charged.

Before, Mark hadn’t been able to appreciate Anduin’s size
completely. Now, fighting the beast head-on, he realized just how huge the dragon
was. He dodged one of Anduin’s flailing wings and stabbed towards the dragon’
side with his blade. Anduin growled in anger as the sword dug a long, shallow
gash in his shoulder, and turned his head blindingly fast towards the boy.

Mark barely avoided the jet of flames that shot out from
Anduin’s throat, and he now used the dragon’s bulk as protection from the
blistering heat. Anduin, enraged, turned on him, and Mark scrambled out of the
reach of those deadly sharp talons. He hit the ground, and, disoriented, he
reached for his sword. His hand had just closed around the hilt when he looked
up and saw a huge, scaly, barbed appendage swinging towards him.

As Anduin’s tail slammed into Mark’s body, he felt all the
air leave his lungs at once. As if in slow motion, he flew across the clearing,
his sword thrown from his hand and falling to the ground in a gleaming arc. He
heard his ribs crack as he hit a tree, and as he fell limply to the forest
floor, he screamed in agony as the ends of the broken bones ground against each
other. He felt blood on his chest; the wickedly sharp spines of Anduin’s tail
had dug deep into his flesh.

He felt the ground vibrate beneath him, heard Anduin coming
for him. He tried to push himself up but every movement caused him excruciating
pain; he panted for breath and his body trembled violently. He managed to raise
his head, and scanned the clearing to find Mara, but she was nowhere in sight.

He closed his eyes, and in that moment, something happened.

It felt almost like his hand touching another’s, almost like
physical contact- but somehow deeper, like he was thinking two sets of
thoughts, feeling another consciousness brush up against his own. He heard
words echo in his mind- Where’s Mark? I
need his help- oh good Father, no! For a brief instant an image flickered
through his mind, and he saw himself sprawled helplessly on the ground, Anduin
pounding towards him. He wondered if this was what Mara had experienced,
hearing his thoughts- and even as he had the thought, he knew that his guess
was correct. He was experiencing the mental connection that the Farlander line
had possessed for more than a century. But it wasn’t with Mara, surprisingly.

He sensed Adam’s mind.

Experimentally, knowing he had little time left, he called
to his cousin, thinking the words because he couldn’t draw in the breath to
speak them. Adam. Adam, I… need you.
Please.

He sensed Adam’s attention turn to him, felt his cousin’s momentary
surge of satisfaction as he drove his blade deep into Tamar’s shoulder, then
his worried thoughts as he turned to where Mark lay, helpless. But Mark knew
his cousin wouldn’t, couldn’t make it
in time- just as Adam knew, though he ran anyway. Mark lifted his head and met his
cousin’s eyes, then his strength left him and he collapsed backward in the
dirt.

***

Mara could hear the noises of battle behind her as she
slipped quietly through the woods. A few times, out of the corner of her eye,
she saw bursts of orange light- dragon fire.

She wondered what the others would think when they noticed
that she had left. They might wonder if she had abandoned them, or had been
captured. But she hadn’t abandoned them. She had left for an important reason-
and she believed that she would do her family more good this way than by
fighting the dragons.

She had remembered as they fled that she had forgotten to
share an important part of her dream- the fact that William Swiftviper was
coming too, along with his finest warriors. She knew that the other three had
to stay behind to battle the dragons, but she had a plan- and she constantly
prayed as she walked that it would work. In her hands, she clutched a length of
rope.

She could sense William’s men just ahead- ten people
including himself. They were intent on their purpose- sneaking up on the Farlanders
as they fought the dragons and taking them captive. They were confident that their
four targets, distracted by the larger enemy, would be fairly easy to handle.

What they didn’t know was that not all four Farlanders were
in the clearing.

Mara moved quickly, her feet making almost no noise on the
soft ground. She remembered everything she had learned from her years of
hunting with her father and Mark- eventually, she had taken over the job
completely, as Mark wasn’t exactly the most subtle or quiet of people. Quick. Silent. If it looks your way, freeze
and don’t move a muscle. Mara slipped silently through the trees, knowing
that she had to wait for the right moment to show herself.

She quickly caught up to the small group, and none of them
heard or saw her. Once she was around two hundred feet away from the men, she
stopped and straightened. I want them to
see me, she told herself. Once they
do, I’ll need to be quick to avoid them.

She began walking once more, this time purposely stepping on
piles of leaves or sometimes a twig, dragging her feet through the various
debris that littered the forest floor. She saw the light from several torches
in front of her, heard the warriors speaking in low voices- then the voices
went silent, and the light of the torches flickered. Mara ducked behind a tree
to listen.

“What was that?” asked the deep voice of a man.

“What do you mean, ‘what was that?’ asked a second voice,
this time that of a woman, who sounded mildly annoyed. “I didn’t hear
anything.”

A fourth person entered the conversation, as Mara heard
another man say, “Of course you heard something, Stefan. There’s a battle going
on. Them dragons are a little noisy.”

“Shut up, you blithering idiots.” The words were quiet,
but a chill went down Mara’s spine as she recognized the low, menacing voice of
William Swiftviper.

The three men and the woman went silent as William
continued. “How you four got on my father’s good side is beyond me. I’ve never
seen any as stupid as you lot.” His voice dripped with contempt. “Now shut
your mouth, Raoul- before your foul breath smothers us- and listen, all of
you.”

They went quiet, and Mara began moving again, darting from
tree to tree and making rather feeble attempts to remain silent. She heard
William’s curse, and saw the torches move closer. “There’s someone out there,”
William said softly, then Mara heard the sound of steel on leather as he drew
his sword.

She drew nearer, and at last she could see the ten dark
figures. They all wore black, and had weapons drawn. William stepped forward,
and Mara saw the blade of his sword glint in the torchlight. “Show yourself,”
he called out.

Mara silently moved closer, then stepped into the light. She
stared at them with a stunned expression, but inwardly she smiled. It was all
going according to plan.

William stepped closer. “Who are you?”

She felt a surge of anger towards him as she remembered how
close he had come to killing Mark. She smiled and threw back the hood of her
cloak. “My name is Mara Farlander,” she said. “You tried to kill my brother.”

William froze. Then he regained his composure. “I’ve heard
much about you,” he replied. Then he glanced at his men. “Go get her,” he said
quietly.

Mara turned and ran, not so fast that she lost them, but
quickly enough to keep out of their reach. She heard the deep twang of a bow, and an arrow whizzes
past. She began crisscrossing the path, darting from one side to the other,
from tree to tree. Now they couldn’t possibly aim true. She saw the bend in the
trail up ahead, and knew the time must be soon. She sped up and rounded the
bend, then ducked behind a tree.

She heard them run past her, and nodded, satisfied. She
would have to move quickly. She went back around the bend to a place where the
road forked. There, she tied one end of her rope around a tree on one side of
the trail, close to the ground. The other end of the rope was tied around a
tree on the path’s opposite side in a similar fashion, creating a trip wire of
sorts that was strung across the path about six inches off the ground.

She nodded in satisfaction as she glanced at the muddy
trench on the other side of the trip wire. She vaguely remembered digging it
with Mark when they were young, pretending that it was a moat for a castle. Of
course, they had quickly discovered that just across the foot-wide trench lay
an enormous underground yellow jackets’ nest that stretched across the path.
She grinned wickedly at the thought as she skirted around the nest.

She heard the pounding of footsteps nearby and took a deep
breath as she made her way to a place well away from the wasps’ nest. She would
need to move quickly in order to avoid the yellow jackets herself.

The ten warriors rounded the bend, and William held up a
hand, stopping them, as he saw Mara. “What’re you up to?” he asked, halfway to
himself.

“What do you mean?” she asked, with an innocent expression.
“I’m just running for my life. I just happen to be very good at cutting
corners.” She grinned wickedly.

Predictably, Raoul and Stefan, whom Mara had already judged
to be the stupidest two of the group, charged. Emboldened by their companions’
initiative, several more of the warriors rushed forward as well. Their cries of
triumph quickly turned to yells of agony as they tripped and fell headlong into
the yellow jackets’ nest.

Mara bolted, cutting through the woods to the path she had
taken earlier. She could still hear her pursuers’ cries of pain as she ran for
the clearing where her family fought the dragons. She heard the footsteps of
William and at least one more person far behind her, but she didn’t look back. She
heard the roar of one of the dragons close by, and saw the light of its fire.

She burst into the clearing, her daggers already in her
hands, and was greeted by utter chaos. Adam and Marianna were fighting Tamar;
in fact, it looked rather like they were taunting the dragon instead. They stayed
just out of the reach of Tamar’s talons and wings, and every so often one of
them would dart in and score a hit.

Mara glanced around, looking for Mark, then her blood seemed
to freeze in her veins. He lay sprawled on the forest floor, his shirt torn and
soaked in blood, his eyes closed. For a moment Mara thought he was dead, then she
sighed with momentary relief as she saw the slight rise and fall of his chest
as he breathed.

Then her heart skipped a beat as she saw the scarlet dragon
Anduin stalking towards her brother’s still form.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Hey y'all! I love it when people comment, so please do it! All comments will be moderated immediately, so please keep it clean, people. I will try to reply, unless I have no idea what you're talking about, in which case I may just send emojis.